Reginald Brooks

Palm Desert, Coachella Valley Super Bloom, #5
acrylic on canvas
12″ x 16″ x 0″

For years now, I have been painting the desert in my annual re-visit not too far from where I grew up. Mostly plein-air color studies, some of which I continue painting on when back in my studio – and some directly in my studio right after my return home – all with the same notion in mind: emphatic experience.

Now the question is: to what extent does the actual time and place of viewing the “Flora & Fauna” and responding to it come in to play. If the scene is directly in front of me while painting my experience is similar – although undoubtedly different – to that when I work and create with the experience burned into my memory when back at home in the studio. To the former, immediacy comes to dominate, while in the latter mode, some elements of contemplation begin to become part of the expression. Frankly, I love them both! I tend to work fast with acrylics in either case, once I have the canvas before me.